A decisive win at the polls
Nicolás Pino defeated Marcos Pereda Born in the Sociedad Rural Argentina election and will remain president for another term. Official figures showed 2,229 members voted at the association's headquarters: Pino's slate took 1,441 votes, or 71%, while Pereda Born received 592, and 24 ballots were blank. Adherent members added 172 voters. Pino lost only in Entre Ríos among the 14 districts. He ran with Carlos Odriozola, a current SRA director and coordinator of the meat commission, and will serve a fourth term through 2028.[S1][S3]
After the result, Pino thanked members for their trust and said the outcome brought both joy and a sense of responsibility, commitment and the conviction to open a new stage and keep building a more solid, federal, representative association closer to producers. He said competitiveness, lower tax pressure and greater international insertion would be central to the new administration's agenda, and that the entity would keep pursuing zero export taxes enshrined in law, along with better infrastructure, more credit access, technology adoption, security and more ambitious international market access for Argentine production.[S1]
The statute dispute behind the rupture
Pino and Pereda Born reached the SRA leadership together in 2021, defeating then-president Daniel Pelegrina. That first term was short because the elections had been due in 2020 and were postponed by the pandemic. The ticket was re-elected in 2022 and 2024, and during that period a major statute reform removed indefinite re-election and set a limit of three consecutive terms. The change triggered conflicting readings: Pereda Born says there was an alternation agreement with Pino that was not honored, and argues that Pino's candidacy amounts to a fourth term barred by the statute. Pino holds that the reform is not retroactive and took effect from its ratification, making his bid legitimate. Their relationship became irreconcilable.[S1][S3][S4]
A second conflict involved a new computer system for managing the association's genealogical records, which cost around US$3 million and suffered significant failures. After that episode, 21 members and breeders sent a letter to Pino asking for explanations. The dispute also exposed different profiles within the sector: Pereda Born, heir to traditional families including the Born of the Bunge y Born group and the Pereda, arrived with more than 50,000 head of cattle and diversified operations, while Pino built his leadership from the association's base after being recruited in his youth by then-president Guillermo Alchourón, combining union work with farming in Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
Milei's backing and the road ahead
Pino's ties to the Casa Rosada were another central issue in the campaign. He did not hide his direct alliance with President Javier Milei or his frequent dealings in official offices, including a meeting with Santiago Caputo before the election, positioning himself as a key interlocutor for the sector. Pereda Born publicly questioned that closeness and warned that the Sociedad Rural risked losing autonomy before the executive branch. After the vote, Milei celebrated Pino's victory on X, writing that Rome does not pay traitors and congratulating Nicolás. Pereda Born also posted on X, thanking the many members who took part in the assembly and those who voted for him across the country, and said his Renovación con Unidad group would keep working internally for the entity's values.[S1][S2][S4]
Pino was born in Buenos Aires in 1964 into a family with an agricultural tradition, as the son and grandson of producers. He trained as a technician in agricultural production at the Universidad Católica Argentina and built his career in livestock and beef trading. His operations include breeding, rearing, fattening and genetics on farms in Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos, a feedlot and participation in meat sales. With this result, he retains the leadership of the Sociedad Rural for another two years, after a campaign marked by the feud with his former running mate.[S1][S2][S4]
